Had Appendectomy. Having Symptoms Of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Need Of Abdominal Surgery?

Posted on Fri, 11 Oct 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 Answered on

Tue, 5 Nov 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Yes, my son had an emergency appendectomy five years ago and just recently pulled out a long string of staples from his navel. He also has had symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome since this surgery. He saw his local doctor this week and was prescribed antibiotics. Is this a cause for concern in getting an xray or possibly more abdominal surgery to make sure there isn't an infection?

Answered by Dr. Deepak Kishore Kaltari (7 hours later)

Brief Answer:
No need for Surgery

Detailed Answer:
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I assume that he had undergone Laparosopic Appendectomy as you have mentioned he removing long string of staples. Occasionally the suture material used to close the fascia are not absorbed and are retained within the layer of abdomen which get extruded off the body as in case of your son. This is definitely not the cause of concern, if there is no further discharge of redness at site of navel.
Pain in abdomen occurring after so long after surgery may be unrelated to Surgery. Abdominal infection will usually manifest with pain abdomen, fever, loss of appetite, nausea/ vomiting. You have only mentioned only one complaint that is pain, hence unlikely to be due to infection.

Infection in abdomen like localized or Generalized collection can be easily ruled out by non-invasive methods like Ultrasound abdomen or CT scan. There is no indication for Surgery.

I hope it helped.
Take care
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E